BOPK petition premature: Kusug
LOCAL opposition spokesperson Raymond Garcia yesterday said Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan’s (BOPK) plan to have the names of two Kugi Uswag Sugbu’s (Kusug) candidates removed from the official ballots is “premature.”
He said that contrary to what BOPK lawyer Jade Ponce claimed, they have filed a motion for reconsideration on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision promulgated last Feb. 23 disqualifying candidates Junas Cabarrubias and Zenica Arcilla.
Their petition, Raymond said, was sent through mail last Friday, the third and last day the Comelec gave Kusug as a chance to appeal its decision.
Representing BOPK’s Roberto Cabarrubias and Alvin Arcilla, Ponce said that Junas and Zenica “have never held any elective position in government, are virtual unknowns and have no independent means of income or enterprise enough to launch and sustain a viable campaign for the position in which they have filed their respective certificates of candidacy.”
In its resolution, the Comelec Second Division agreed and added that the two “are not registered voters in the locality from which they reportedly hail.”
Ruling
In another ruling, however, the Second Division upheld the candidacy of Lakas-Kampi’s Emma Cabrera, who is running for north district city councilor.
The BOPK also wanted Emma disqualified because she shares the same family name with Luz Barangay Captain Nida Cabrera, a BOPK member who is running for city councilor.
In an interview yesterday afternoon, Raymond said they did not send their motion for reconsideration through personal service to Comelec-Manila.
He said they managed to comply with the three-day requirement, within which they must file the motion for reconsideration, through mail.
He said that while sending a copy of their response to the petition to the other party is required, such was not obligatory when submitting a motion for reconsideration.
Petition
That could explain why Ponce did not know about the petition the Kusug filed last Friday, Raymond said.
He said they also cited a technicality, particularly on why the BOPK paid a filing fee for only one person when it petitioned for the disqualification of two Kusug
candidates.
Kusug, he said, also argued that Junas and Zenica are not independent bets but candidates of a recognized party.
Junas and Zenica, he added, are of a similar situation with Emma Cabrera, whose candidacy was upheld by the Comelec.
Kusug likewise questioned why it was not the candidates themselves who filed the petition.